1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of surgical tools and more particularly to a multipurpose surgical tool for use during hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery, minimally invasive surgical procedures and traditional open surgical procedures.
2. Background of Related Art
Open surgery, in general, has remained the procedure of choice for many surgeons since it enhances a surgeon's view of the operating cavity and allows a surgeon to readily palpate the internal organs as needed during a surgical procedure. However, the relatively large incisions required can often be traumatic for patients and may result in a prolonged healing process. As a result and as an alternative to traditional open surgery, many surgeons utilize minimally invasive surgical techniques to treat tissue remotely through small incisions utilizing specialized endoscopic instruments. More particularly, endoscopic instruments are inserted into the patient through a cannula or port that has been made with a trocar. Typical sizes for cannulas range from three millimeters to twelve millimeters. Smaller cannulas are usually preferred, which, as can be appreciated, ultimately presents a design challenge to instrument manufacturers who must find ways to make surgical instruments that fit through the smaller cannulas.
Certain endoscopic surgical procedures require cutting, cauterizing and/or sealing blood vessels and/or vascular tissue which, typically, requires the surgeon to insert different instruments through the working lumen of the endoscope to treat the tissue. As can be appreciated, this simply adds to the overall complexity of the operation since it requires the repeated exchange of surgical instruments through the working lumen to perform the different tasks associated with the particular surgery involved.
There are also some disadvantages to endoscopic surgery. For example, endoscopic instruments tend to limit a surgeon's ability to freely manipulate organs and often limit the surgeon's view of the operating cavity. Moreover, when using endoscopic instruments, the surgeon loses tactile feedback of the tissue which can play an important role in some surgical procedures. Further, when the particular surgery dictates the removal of a tissue specimen, the tissue must be either be morselized to fit through the trocar lumen or the surgeon must create a larger opening to remove the specimen intact essentially abandoning the benefits associated with endoscopic surgery.
Combining the advantages of the traditional and the laparoscopic techniques for abdominal surgery is commonly referred to as “hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery” (HALS). In this procedure, the normal laparoscopic small puncture openings are made with the exception that one opening is made late in the procedure and large enough to allow a surgeon's hand to pass through the opening to manipulate tissue, deliver new instruments into the operating cavity and/or remove tissue specimens. HALS attempts to restore dexterity and tactile feedback by allowing the surgeon to place one hand within the operating space through a hand port. Once the hand is in the operating space, it can be used to manipulate and palpate tissues in much the same way as it is used in open surgical procedures.
When performing surgery in the abdominal cavity, air or gas is typically introduced to create a condition known as “pneumoperitoneum”. Ideally, HALS procedures are performed while maintaining the pneumoperitoneum which eliminates re-insufflation of the surgical cavity. As can be appreciated, if a surgeon's hand has to be removed to retrieve additional surgical instruments, the cavity will deflate and subsequent re-insufflation of the pneumoperitoneum may be required. This simply prolongs the overall surgical procedure and makes HALS surgery very tedious especially when multiple instruments must be utilized during the surgical procedure. As a result, a need exists to develop an improved surgical tool which reduces the need to remove the instruments useful for performing hand assisted laparoscopic surgical procedures.